Tag: employers

Freelancers can help you grow your company faster. You will focus on service quality and better resource allocation rather than HR and employee training. Freelancers eliminate the traditional HR costs such as benefits, onboarding and training and general productivity loss.

Hire task-focused labour

Many companies grow slower or fail because they spend their early resources on employees and HR-related expenses. Some business managers prefer to stick to the traditional organizational structure by overstaffing their companies. Other successful rapid-growth companies prefer to divert their focus to their bottom line first and value creation for their customers.

Ask yourself – Do I need to a hire a full-time marketing graduate and train them (time friction) to use basic photo editing tools? or is it more cost effective to hire two overqualified freelancers who can finish their assignment in less time and ultimately deliver value (good logo, frequent social engagement) to my customers? Do idle training hours contribute directly to my core activity as a business?

Thanks to freelance jobs marketplaces such as Nabbesh.com or other competitors in other markets, you can fill in a vacant position or a specific task or a project in the same day. Extended HR services such as assisted recruitment will choose the best talent for your tasks.

Focus on long-term strategy, & execute faster.

One of the reasons some managers hire full-timers (sometimes too many) is that they rely on their specialized team to figure out their own mini-strategy within the broad company strategy. This is especially true of small businesses and startups. The truth is not every new hire has the ready capacity to understand the business or growth model they work within. It is best not to hire people to think for you. If you’re short of cash, you are not hiring the most qualified talent in the market, but someone who understands the requirements of the job. That’s not enough to outgrow your competitors before they drive you out of market.

You can choose to outsource non-core tasks and focus instead on strategy and execution. Hire talent for competency and not presumed necessity. A popular Silicon Valley saying reads: “hire people who are more qualified than you are.” At least, your team won’t be at fault when you fail to execute your strategy or grow. You will know where to grow.

Freelance job marketplaces offer easy tools to vet freelancers’ skills and professional precedence with on-website rankings and social profile spaces. Nabbesh’s assisted recruitment services will shortlist highly skilled talented for prospective employers semi-manually and algorithmically. This is how Nabbesh scales its own business.

Allocate freed resources to core activity

Throwing the appropriate cash or resources at your core activities will help you scale your business faster. You may choose to free cash from marketing and allocate it to direct sales because it directly results in more revenues. Thanks to task-focused freelancers, you won’t have to give up on marketing fully, but rather hire people who execute the same job tasks at lesser HR expenses.

You may want to spend more on marketing or customer satisfaction only when you acquire new customers. Spend less and do more. This is how freelancers can help you grow your company fast and stay on the competitive edge.

The author of this article is a remote worker. You can hire Ahmed for your job by inviting him to send a proposal.

There are multiple ways going freelance can empower young people. Whether you are looking to fill up your free time with a couple of challenging tasks or break the routine that has been dictating your life, a challenging freelance project can make for an exciting experience whose lessons could stay with you forever.

The financial benefit

I don’t blame you if when you say, see, hear or read the word “job”, the first thing you think of is “how much?” We all work to make money—at least the vast majority of people. The flexible nature of freelance work and the fact that most projects are short-term could lead to a freelancer being paid higher rates than those a full-timer would be receiving for doing the same exact job. Looking for freelance work might be your best option if you’re a university student looking to make some pocket money while still having some extra time to do homework, read, or go out with friends. While some worry that freelance might not be a stable prospect in the long run, a bigger number of clients—and more projects—can ensure an almost-stable flow of income. Perhaps one of the best advantages of being a freelancer is the fact that you usually don’t have too many expenses — make sure to inform the client beforehand if you need to go to the field, travel, or buy material, and make sure to make sure they will cover the expenses. Starting to make money at a young age leads to financial independence, and the latter not only liberates you, but also empowers you.

Developing skills before you hit the marketplace

Although you might choose to go exclusively freelance and never have to spend time in an office ever again, you might also decide to accept a full-time job offer at a certain point. Regardless of the professional direction you deem fit, it is crucial that you start working on acquiring and developing basic skills so that when you hit the marketplace, you do so running. Freelance work can complement your studies in a way that classes and professors can only talk about—theoretically, for the most part. Marketing yourself as the right person for the job, agreeing with clients on the terms and conditions of a task, delivering, reviewing and finding quick, effective solutions to overcome daily obstacles are all activities you would have to do on an almost-daily basis while freelancing your way through the pre-career phase of your life. More know-how and a set of social skills is bound to empower you, maybe not overnight, but most definitely somewhere down the line.

Staying ahead of the curve

Competition is fierce out there. It’s a cut-throat job hunt that could leave many scarred for life, especially if you’re one of those people who get their hopes a bit too high a bit too fast. Although you will most probably be scanning the market for entry-level positions upon graduating from university (or high school if you’re too eager), all employers will ask you to submit both a CV and a cover letter, and they usually expect neither to be blank. Being a freelancer is in many ways similar to doing an internship at home. Only difference is: you would actually be doing work! By the time you decide to apply for more senior, higher-paying positions, you would have managed to learn and achieve more than your peers of the same age.

Nabbesh is very proud to announce the launch of our new payment services, bringing us one step closer to providing our community of nearly 30,000 freelancers all the tools you need to work your way — and get paid! At Nabbesh, our vision is to be the preeminent platform for every independent worker and freelancer in the MENA region, providing you with a simple, easy to use, one-stop platform, to bring you more work opportunities and financial prosperity.

Our Vision: To connect every freelancer in the MENA region with a job!

When we started Nabbesh, we began with only a vision and the determination to make that vision a reality by improving the way MENA’s men, women, and youth work. Our goal is to create a virtual marketplace for people looking to break out of the confines of outdated work models. Technology has already revolutionized the ways we connect with friends, search for music, and now the way we search for, find, and get paid for project-based work!

One of our community members, Tariq Mehmood, was able to showcase his work to HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, all because of Nabbesh. Nabbesh is truly a marketplace that provides unlimited exposure and merit based opportunities for our community, no matter where they live.

We know that there are risks associated with working for someone across borders, or online, and we also know that not everyone can commute to an office or work in more traditional ways. But we see the potential in you, and we have harnessed technology to make getting paid securely online simple. Our new payment system now allows you to send a work proposal, a deposit request or an invoice, while providing an escrow service, giving you more peace of mind.

What does this mean exactly? It means that people like Ameera in Jordan can work for people like Sami in Dubai, negotiate a work proposal on Nabbesh, and Ameera can actually see the deposit that Sami makes online through Nabbesh before she even begins her work. And with our credit card payment options and our options to receive payments through bank transfer, we have improved the way you hire, pay, and receive money for your work. No bank account? No problem! Nabbesh also offers simple payments through money transfer services (i.e., Western Union). We are taking the headache out of freelancing in this region.

Nabbesh has launched in June 2012 in Dubai and ever since we have been working really hard to cultivate the freelance movement in the region and be the platform that empowers freelancers to showcase their skills, gain exposure and connect with clients. Whilst many of you may think that we are a job site catering to the UAE, the truth is we have grown a lot since our launch to become the “go to” marketplace for professional service providers or freelancers in the region and we wanted our community to know about that.

Looking through the 2,000+ freelance projects that have been posted on Nabbesh since the beginning of the 2013, we are proud to assure freelancers everywhere in the Middle East – there’s an employer out there who needs YOU. So far we have had jobs from employers in over 100 Cities in the Middle East & North Africa, and even some from the US and Europe. How’s that?

Month on month, over 300 jobs are posted from various cities. Aside from the UAE, the majority of freelance gigs on Nabbesh are originating from Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. We are also proud to have an increasing number of jobs from Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. A recent survey done by Nabbesh in September 2013 highlighted that 35% of employers registered on Nabbesh are open to hire freelancers residing in a geographic location different to their own, this truly emphasises Nabbesh’s unique position to be the regional marketplace where people connect & sell their services.

If you are a freelancer or a supporter of the freelance movement, and if you want to help talent in the Middle East find work opportunities, then we have a modest request! Please share this post on the interwebs to spread the word so we can build a vibrant regional marketplace and create more wealth to our Nabbesh community.

At Nabbesh, we have made it our mission to enable freelancing via the creation of a transparent marketplace as well as learning from our community to establish a set of best practices for freelancers, regardless of their type of skill, to provide their services to clients and more importantly get paid for their work.

During September 2013, we surveyed our 25,000 freelancers from across the Middle East, with a majority in the UAE, Lebanon and Jordan to find out about their attitudes towards freelancing.

The survey has revealed that whilst freelancers are accustomed to doing free jobs for friends and family, volunteering or offering sample work to improve their portfolio, a whopping 30% of freelancers have come across a non-paying client in their career.

Here are the top 10 reasons and the story-lines behind them :

– He/ she was not happy with the quality of work

– We had a disagreement on the fees that should be paid

– Client kept delaying and postponing and then ignoring follow up

– Client was deceitful – It turned out to be a scam

– Client simply doesn’t like to pay anyone, I found out he did the same to many other freelancers

– Client claimed they weren’t making enough money to pay me

– Client did not understand the amount of work that was put in providing the service

– I was too young to put proper agreements in place and they took advantage of that

– Client had a cashflow problem or company (startup) closed

– Company management put the project on hold and decided not to pay

– There was a requirement, deliverable and communication gap

Call it occupational hazard, freelancers are prone to these types of clients and need to protect themselves at all times and have the ability to pick up the warning signs.

Some went as far as calling it an attribute to the Middle Eastern culture as highlighted by one of the respondents: “I did not get paid by clients more than once. I blame the lack of professionalism in the Middle East. Now I don’t even lift a pencil without a non-refundable down-payment.”

We do not agree with the notion that “professionalism” is lacking in the Middle East. We believe that in the presence of a marketplace, both parties will be required to be respectful and ethical in the way they treat each other and it is the marketplace that will reward freelancers and clients who honor their agreements and deliver quality work.

We highly recommend that freelancers put together agreements (like this sample agreement from the Freelancers Union) with their clients detailing a concrete scope of work and a milestone-based payment. Another common practice is to ask for a deposit before starting the work. Lastly, ensure you agree on the method of payment and make sure to understand the various charges for the money transfers, for example, a bank may charge up to 30$ for a transfer.

In order to be enablers for freelancing, Nabbesh is launching an online payment facility where clients are required to pay upfront for services, in the form of a deposit that Nabbesh holds in Escrow, while freelancers are bound to the work they agreed to deliver. Freelancers will get paid once the project or task has been completed.

While it may not be a panacea for the freelancing woes, we believe that a marketplace can create a layer of trust, which protects its participants and enables a healthy environment. 88% of our survey respondents confirmed that they will be managing their payments through Nabbesh in order to get paid in a timely manner and have a strong mediator in the event of conflict.

As we prepare for this major step in Nabbesh’s development we look forward to more feedback from you, to help you get better freelance gigs and we hope that our tips will help you stay vigilant!

Note: The full survey will be shared as soon as the data compiling is complete!

We have recently been on a hiring spree to grow the Nabbesh team by recruiting expert freelancers from across the Middle East to work on specific tasks or even manage certain business areas.

Our needs range from technology related jobs, to data analysis tasks to business development and community management! So of course we put Nabbesh to the test!

We were not able to fill all the positions yet, however we thought we’d share with you our top 5 tips to land a job via Nabbesh. Quite frankly, these tips are built into our selection criteria!

1 – Be professional

No matter how friendly or casual a job description may seem, make sure your application is professional. Do not use jokes, caps, shorthand or inappropriate language. Before you submit your application, make sure it is free of typos or major grammatical errors; it can be a turn off for employers. Make sure you spell the employer or the company’s name correctly. If English is not your first language then clearly mention it in your application in order to set the expectations, employers will respect you for that.

2 – Read the job description

There is nothing more off-putting to employers than someone responding in a generic way for a specific job description. For example “I am interested” or “I can do the job” which can signal to the employer that you did not make any effort to address his or her needs. Take the time to read the job post, understand the requirements and address them in your application. Highlight key strengths that you may have in relation to the job like relevant industry or market experience, refer to your skills listed on your Nabbesh profile page as well as highlight your portfolio on Nabbesh.

3 – Be specific in your application

Employers have a short attention span and they quickly scan for relevant information with respect to their job post. Be brief, make sure you get the employer’s attention but not necessarily tell them your life story. Do not by any shape or form copy and paste your CV into the job application as this will certainly lead to your application being ignored. From our experience, CVs are secondary to how you phrase your job application and how you convince the employer that you are the person for the job!

4 – Show your enthusiasm

It is quite nice when you end your application with comforting notes like how much you would love to work for the employer, that you are willing to provide the employer with additional information if needed, that you are available to start immediately and that this is an opportunity that you wouldn’t want to miss! Flattery goes a long way.

5- Follow up

Employers may be busy and may forget to respond, or they may have several applicants that they are interviewing or several proposals to go through. If you follow the above tips, we are almost 100% sure that you will get a response. In case you don’t, it is always beneficial to drop the employer a gentle reminder mentioning that you are looking forward to hear from them and always offer additional information if needed to further emphasize why you are perfect for the job!

One of the top requested skills in the Middle East is Social Media, both for full time and freelance positions. In this post we discuss why it’s becoming harder to fill that position and how you can successfully fill your social media requirements if you are a business in the UAE or greater Arab Region.

1. Social Media is a very broad term:

Decide WHAT the person needs to be doing exactly. Will they be creating content that will sit on social media sites? Will they need to make sense of the numbers from social media? Will they be creating and running social media advertising?

2. Secondary Skillsets:

If creating content – you may need someone who is bilingual. Consider a Translator or Writer

If you need to optimize performance and want to understand analytics – you might find similar skills in a person who understands Google Analytics or has performed analytics for in house company data

If you need someone to run social media advertising and campaigns – you probably need someone to design the ads and other propietary photos / videos to share. Consider a graphic designer to deliver this content for you

3. Multiple language Social Media

One of the unique factors in the Middle East is the fact that people use social media in their native tongue (Arabic) but can perform any other aspect of business on and offline in English. Because of this, many companies decide to make each of their posts bilingual, posting both arabic and english at the same time. There are of course many other languages spoken in the Middle East (french, farsi, hindi, urdu etc) but the majority of times, arabic and english are the preferred languages.

You will find it hard to source a person who has equally strong language skills AND is proficient at the different skillsets mentioned above. Those types of people are in extremely high demand and very limited supply.

So what can you do to solve this problem? If you’re not finding a person you may decide to outsource to a dedicated company who can handle it for you. Another more recent solution is from Qordoba. Qordoba is a fast growing translation company and has just launched its social media translation package with affordable tiered rates.

You can either:

create your english social media updates in bulk and manually send them to Qordoba for translation

post as you would normally, Qordoba monitors your accounts and automatically translates and posts for you in real time

The benefit of using Qordoba is that it allows you to have the best of both worlds at a great price, allowing you to get started with your social media quicker.

We just held our first Freelance Summit in Dubai and were thrilled to engage with a full house at Shelter. The reasoning behind this gathering was fairly simple. We know from our data that there is a big demand for different ways of working, our 14,000 registered users and over 250 job postings a month are testament to that, but we know there’s a big untapped market out there that can be addressed by starting an offline dialogue between the various stakeholders.

That’s why we built an agenda bringing together freelancers to talk about their insights and advice, employers to talk about what they look for and common pitfalls to avoid, a law firm to tell us exactly what is legal regarding freelance and part time work and a business setup consultancy that told us how to incorporate freelancing activities into a proper registered business. We even had a session talking about how freelancing can help achieve the UAE’s 2021 vision of a knowledge based economy!

The event was really successful, and there was definitely an appetite to hear more. Nabbesh is hard at work building some great product features on the platform to make the experience even easier, but we also want to help people get the information they need. We’ll be doing more events in the future based on the conversations we started last night, and of course your feedback.

Let’s give you some highlights from the night:

We talked about the enhanced profile builder called Canvas which allows people to demonstrate their skills by linking to all their best work around the web. Have a look at the profile below to see how much more engaging they are.

If you’ve already got a profile on Nabbesh, now is the time to use this tool to stand out from the crowd.

We also had some sneak peeks of upcoming product features. Want to be the first to test them out? Get on our mailing list!

The question on everybody’s mind was, is freelancing really legal? How can I do it properly? Sara Khoja, Partner at Clyde & Co gave a helpful and succinct talk on what is now possible. Some key takeaways:

You can hold a full time job and do work on the side with a “part time work permit” so long as you hold the necessary No Objection Certificates from your existing employer

Expats are able to act as official work sponsors for their dependents meaning that housewives and students can now take up part time work (with permissions from husbands / fathers)

There was a general consensus that freelancing was a good way to transition from being employed full time to becoming your own boss. Thanks to the laws in the UAE allowing part time work, we should see more people take up freelancing in their spare time to build up their reputation in the market.

Another surprising piece of news from Creative Zone was that it is possible to incorporate your freelance activities into a proper business in the UAE, allowing you to have a corporate bank account and the ability to invoice in a company name as opposed to your personal name. Offering various license options, Creative Zone are happy to provide you with a free consultation to help you understand these options and advise on the best possible solution as per your requirements. If you want more on this, ping us in the form below with your Nabbesh profile URL and the subject “Freelance Business Licence”

Many people think that freelancing as a work pattern is nothing but a pipe dream, available for only a few people, or those lucky enough to have a skill which is so rare that they can command extremely high prices for it. Fortunately we had freelancers on the panel to dispel this myth. A few tips from them:

It’s a competitive marketplace, you need to be proactive and show why you’re better than others

Talk to peers and network with others in the industry to ascertain benchmark rates

Start small and build your reputation through delivering quality work

The employer panel was equally fascinating as we heard exactly what it is that employers look for and we got a glimpse into the skills that are highly in demand right now:

Have a sense of accountability, prove that you take the job as seriously as a full time employee

Demonstrating your work with an up to date portfolio means you have a better chance of standing out (top tip: use the Canvas profile builder to get employers to notice you quicker!)

Deliver good consistent work and aim to build reputation with your employer no matter what the project is

Some industry insights as to what’s missing in the market:

Arabic Content Development

Analytics

English writers who follow Arabic culture

Good Arabic screenplay writers, producers and directors

So you heard it here first! If you’re reading this and you’ve got these skills, or you know someone who does, get signed up on Nabbesh.com as soon as possible.

We’d like to thank The Shelter, Clyde & Co, Creative Zone and all our panelists for making the event a success.

We’ll continue doing these sessions to make sure everyone is empowered with the knowledge they need to freelance successfully. All you have to do is bring your skills to the platform. Whether you’re an individual or a business, hit us up in the form below to tell us more about what you want to know.

Trevor McFarlane is Research Director for the Middle East and Africa at Gulfstat, an independent research group and data provider. He was previously the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Senior Editor for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Trevor regularly speaks and moderates at conferences, presents to senior executives and hosts Dubai Eye’s Business Breakfast Radio Show as well as continuing his role as a contributing editor to The Economist.

Sara Khoja is Partner, Employment & Incentives at Clyde & Co. Sara provides advice on all aspects of employment law, including recruitment, termination, terms and conditions of employment (benefits, bonuses, and remuneration), and the application of quotas and training requirements for the employment of nationals in various AGCC countries. She has contributed UAE chapters to the International Labour and Employment Compliance Handbook (published by Kluwer Law International and the IBA); Corporate Immigration (published by the Oxford University Press) and Compensating Mobile Executives (published by Taxmann).

Sharif Maghraby has worked as a director and producer with MBC, and was responsible for acquiring and negotiating international content formats such as Who wants to be a Millionaire, Fear Factor, and Biggest Loser amongst others. He has experience working with TV, VOD, IPTV and mobile content. Sharif worked as the Managing Director of Comedy Central Studios with TwoFour54. He is also the author of a book, “The seven gates of Phi” He has managed a team of full-time and part-time staff including producers, directors, content development executives, writers and post-production supervisors and has developed and produced many new programs and concepts for the region.

Nick Gonzalez is the co founder of Nervora.com. Nervora represents regional advertising for word-class digital publications in the MENA region reaching millions of readers of well-known global brands such as Conde Nast (e.g. Wired, Vogue, GQ, etc.), CBS Interactive, Hearst Media, Viacom, and Gawker Media. Previously Nick was the first employee at Techcrunch.com and joined founder Michael Arrington to cover the burgeoning startup scene in the SF Bay Area. Nick wore several hats to keep TechCrunch running in the early days, including writing, researching, and managing the original TechCrunch website.

Joe Akkawi is the Founder and Owner of PAZ Marketing Management and Bambinoz PR providing clients with Public Relations, Events Management, Social Media and Media Buying consultancy in the Middle East and North Africa. Joe is also the TV Anchor on SkyNews Arabia doing weekly reviews and stories revolving around technology launches and advancements. Previously Joe’s experience was developing online web experiences and communication strategies with some of the Middle East’s top advertising and communications agencies including Leo Burnett, Grey Worldwide, Impact BBDO and Flip Media.

Faisal al Yafai is an award-winning journalist and essayist. He is chief columnist, features writer and editor for The National newspaper. His journalism and essays have been featured in The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The American Prospect and many other global magazines and newspapers. He is the editor of a collection of essays Women, Islam and Western Liberalism, published by Civitas in London. He conducted undercover investigations into radical and suspected terrorist organisations in the post-9/11 era. He has since reported from countries across the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South-East Asia. Faisal was awarded prestigious Churchill Fellowship, taking a journey to explore feminism across the Arab and Islamic worlds, from Morocco in the east to the furthest tip of Indonesia. His book on the future of feminism in the Middle East is forthcoming from I.B. Tauris, London.

Nabbesh was interviewed on DubaiEye 103.8FM today alongside Sara Khoja, partner at Clyde & Co to talk about the legalities of freelancing in the UAE and how to get started. The below is a summary of the discussion:

It’s no secret that unemployment is high in the region with a need to create 100 million jobs by 2020. Particular risk segments are women and youth. Certain countries have extremely low participation rates for example Saudi. To enable participation in the workforce, Nabbesh offers the opportunity to find and apply for freelance and part time jobs. With over 12,000 registered users and growing, its clear that a gap is being filled.

In the UAE, many people are here because their partner is here on full time work, they want to be proactive in working but often have certain restraints that prevent them from working full time in an office for most of the day. Family and cultural considerations are often not taken into account. Many of these people are highly educated with experience in other parts of the world and are finding ways to work through Nabbesh. Typically people are not fully aware of the jurisdiction surrounding non full time work. Since December 2010 however there has been a move by the government to allow various types of work permits, freelance licenses, part time work permits and more. The best way to get started is to think about how you want to work, for example fully self employed or part time, and this will determine the type of license you need.

SME’s are responsible for the majority of business in the region, and we see that trend on Nabbesh. Many of the employers looking for talent have financial and time restraints where they either need to fill a job urgently for a particular campaign or they don’t have the budget for a full time person. Nabbesh has been quite successful in fulfilling posts within a very short time frame, in some cases as little as 24 hours.

For people who are looking to transition into freelance (people already on their spouses visa) or students who have graduated you can get part time work permits from the ministry of labour for 3 months up to a year. If you already employed you can do work part time in the UAE but you would need a no objection certificate from the employer.

If someone is coming to the end of their job here in the UAE and looking for freelance – what should they do to ensure they can stay here? Firstly the employer is under duty to cancel the work permit and residency visa, and the individual has 30 days to find another sponsor or leave the country. Within that period they need to register as a freelancer, many freezones have freelance licences, they don’t require a huge capital investment. The other way is to secure a part time job with an organization and work that way until you figure out what you want to do. Many part time positions are advertised on Nabbesh and can be found easily using the search functions. For employers they should have evidence of the freelancers being properly licensed, if not, the company would be potentially liable for employing people unlawfully and could be fined.

A recent Employee retention survey done for the MENA region showed that 55% of respondents wanted to leave their jobs immediately. Freelancing will play a more important role moving forward as it gives people the opportunity to work on things they love, not on things they have to do to get by. These days, where job security isn’t as tight as before, freelancing is a good way to maintain your income and keep your skills up to speed. We recently wrote about what employers are most affected by, and being out of work for 6 months or longer was the most decisive factor for employers to pass over a candidate for potential employment.

In short, the opportunities for freelancers are growing daily. We are making it easier for both individuals and employers to meet and do business more efficiently. To find out more and to keep up with the conversation follow #freelancesummit on Twitter, and join us at the first Freelance Summit in Dubai at The Shelter, May 8th.